The 4 Best Movies About Hip Hop and Rap

Hip Hop music has to be heard but sometimes you can show 'em just as well as you can tell 'em. There aren't a ton of movies specifically about rappers or the culture from which they sprang but they are out there. And here are the best of the best: 

4. Biggie: I Got A Story To Tell

3. Straight Outta Compton

While Boyz N the Hood transferred N.W.A.'s subject matter to the big screen, Straight Outta Compton tells the story of the notorious rap group itself. After a mere 13 days of release, Compton became the highest-grossing music biopic of all time in North America, consequently kicking off the current trend of presenting theatrical biographies of legendary music superstars. After five weeks in theaters -- three of which were spent at number one -- the movie became the highest-grossing music biopic of all time worldwide. Compton ultimately quadrupled its $50 million budget at the box office, prompting the release of 2016's Nina, 2017's All Eyez On Me, 2018's Bohemian Rhapsody and 2019's Rocketman by studios eager to duplicate its unprecedented success.

Appropriately directed by F. Gary Gray, who filmed N.W.A. when he worked as a cameraman and went on to oversee music videos for Dre and Cube; the latter's classic comedy Friday; and grew up in Cube's native South Central Los Angeles, Compton chronicles the formation, rise and dissolution of the group credited with popularizing west coast hip hop and "gangsta" rap.

Spanning nine years, the crux of the story begins and ends with the late Eric "Eazy-E" Wright. Opening in 1986, the film shows Compton, California-native and poverty-stricken electro-funk disc jockey Andre Young persuading local drug dealer Wright to finance a record company. Inspired by the inner-city California-centric lyrics of South Central teenager O'Shea Jackson, Young envisions Wright's Ruthless Records, with himself and friend Antoine "DJ Yella" Carraby as in-house producers, changing the face of west coast rap and all of their lives. When a song written by Jackson and produced by Young and Carraby is turned down by Queens, New York-based rap group H.B.O. (Home Boys Only), Young talks Wright -- who has no rap experience -- into recording the track himself. Following a marathon recording session to accommodate Wright's deficiencies and the subsequent release of "Boyz-n-the-Hood", the song in question, Ruthless finds that they have a smash hit on their hands. And the rest is hip hop history. 

Putting a cooler spin on the familiar trifecta of sex, drugs and rock 'n roll, group members Eric "Eazy-E" Wright, Andre "Dr. Dre" Young, O'Shea "Ice Cube" Jackson, Lorenzo "MC Ren" Patterson and Antoine "DJ Yella" Carraby's indulgence of sex, weed and reality rap makes for an illuminating peak into an aspect of popular music rarely afforded the reverence given to the genres that preceded it.









2. City of Lies

Using the actual names of those involved, City of Lies details the real life investigation into the murders of rappers Christopher "Biggie Smalls" Wallace and to a lesser extent, Tupac Shakur, and the police corruption that said investigation revealed. Based on author Randall Sullivan's book "LAbyrinth", the movie reveals how former LAPD detective Russell Poole's police work led him down some pretty grim paths and to the conclusion that LAPD officer David Mack was also an active member of the Bloods street gang while on the job. Even more astonishing, Mack moonlighted as security for Death Row Records. Worse still, he was directly involved in the 1997 murder-for-hire of Wallace.

While Mack refused to cooperate with police following his arrest, his partner and fellow Bloods member, Officer Rafael Perez, cut a deal after his arrest for the theft of $800,000 worth of cocaine from a police evidence room. Perez's information uncovered the widespread law enforcement corruption that came to be known as the Rampart scandal. His information implicated more than 70 other police officers.









1. Resurrection

If you're one of the millions of people who were disappointed by the 2017 Tupac Shakur biopic All Eyez on Me, you should check out Resurrection. This innovative documentary presents Tupac's life story in his own words via narration culled from the various interviews given by the actor and rapper throughout his lifetime. Juxtaposed with an extensive collection of photos and video clips, this retelling of the legendary firebrand's story -- which amounts to a scant 25 years of existence -- is his definitive biopic.

Originally Posted 9/8/20